Police: Man conned way into home, harassed girl

Steamboat Springs  A 38-year-old Steamboat Springs man with a lengthy arrest record has found himself in more trouble with the law.The man was arrested about 10 p.m. Monday on suspicion of second-degree burglary and third-degree sexual assault after allegedly conning his way into a trailer and making unwanted advances toward a teen-age girl there.The suspect allegedly went to the trailer about 8:30 p.m., said Assistant Police Chief Art Fiebing. When the girl answered the door, the man allegedly told her he was a friend of her father, who was not home at the time."The juvenile did not know the guy," Fiebing said. "She had been talking on the telephone to friends."The man was let into the residence when he asked the girl if he could use the bathroom, Fiebing said. After he came out, he refused to leave the trailer, the juvenile told police.After refusing to leave, the suspect allegedly made advances toward the girl, Fiebing said.The teen "begged" the suspect to leave, which he apparently did a short time later. Once the suspect left the residence, police were called to respond to the area.Police are seeking the burglary charge because, Fiebing said, the suspect reportedly would not leave the residence. "It is a crime to enter someone's residence and then refuse to leave," the assistant chief explained.The suspect was arrested by police after he got out of a taxi cab in the area."He matched the description the girl gave us," Fiebing said.While the suspect was being booked into the Routt County Jail, police allegedly found a marijuana pipe in his possession. The suspect remains behind bars on a $5,000 bond that was set by County Judge James Garrecht on Tuesday.The recent trouble the man finds himself is the latest in a lengthy criminal history, a court file shows. From 1982 to 1999, the man was arrested 19 times for crimes that included assault, drug possession, trespassing, drunken driving and shoplifting. The man has been arrested in Craig, Steamboat Springs and by agencies in the Denver area.It is the policy of Steamboat Today not to name suspects of sexual crimes unless they are convicted.